[NYTr] FAS Secrecy News - 01/10/2008

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2008, Issue No. 5
January 10, 2008

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Support Secrecy News: http://www.fas.org/static/contrib_sec.jsp

**	ARMY MANUAL DESCRIBES DOCTRINE ON RIOT CONTROL AGENTS
**	CHINA'S SOFT POWER, AND MORE FROM CRS

ARMY MANUAL DESCRIBES DOCTRINE ON RIOT CONTROL AGENTS

Only the President of the United States may authorize the use of riot
control agents in war, even for defensive purposes, according to
official U.S. military doctrine, although the Secretary of Defense may
authorize their use for the protection or recovery of nuclear weapons.

So it was anomalous to say the least when employees of Blackwater
Worldwide private security firm released a canister of CS gas over a
Baghdad checkpoint in 2005, as reported by the New York Times today. 
See "2005 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions," by James Risen,
January 10:

  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/world/middleeast/10blackwater.html

"A United States military spokesman in Baghdad refused to describe the
current rules of engagement governing the use of riot control agents,"
according to the Times story.

But to a great extent, those rules of engagement are specified in a
U.S. Army Field manual which describes the permitted uses of riot
control agents in wartime and in peacetime, as well as the authority
required to employ them.

The 2003 Army Field Manual, which is still in effect, is FM 3-11.11,
"Flame, Riot Control, and Herbicide Operations," March 10, 2003:

    http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-11-11-excerpt.pdf

The document has not been approved for public release, but a copy was
obtained by Secrecy News.  About 25 pages of the document, which detail
the preparation of explosive devices, have been withheld from online
publication by Secrecy News.

CHINA'S SOFT POWER, AND MORE FROM CRS

Noteworthy new publications from the Congressional Research Service
include the following:

"China's 'Soft Power' in Southeast Asia," January 4, 2008:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34310.pdf

"How Crime in the United States Is Measured," January 3, 2008:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34309.pdf

"Democracy Promotion: Cornerstone of U.S. Foreign Policy?," December
26, 2007:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34296.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood at fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691